Honda’s Barcia Third at Indy Supercross

GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia saw his four-race winning streak in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series snapped on Saturday night, but he still salvaged a podium finish by crossing the line third.

Justin Barcia (GEICO Honda CRF250R Supercross) says: “For now, I’m calling this the ‘nightmare race.’ The track was just brutal, and it was just a weird night overall. But it’s great to finish on the podium again and not lose many points.”

As disappointing as the third place was, the final outcome could have been much worse. Barcia got caught up in a mob scene in the first turn of the Lites main. He briefly went down during Lap 2, and came up in ninth place.

Barcia worked his way into eighth place by Lap 4 when Kyle Cunningham went down hard, bringing out a red flag.

The stoppage triggered a new-to-2012 staggered restart rule. Had three laps or less been completed before the red flag, the riders would have gone back to their gates. Since it had gone beyond the three-lap mark, the riders were lined up in a single column that stretched from the hole shot line to near the starting area.

Justin Barcia says: “It was a confusing scene. It’s the first time they’ve had to do this, so it was crazy – but it fit the madness of this race.”

While Barcia was still eighth, the gap between himself and the front of the field was greatly reduced. Barcia made the most of his second chance to storm through the bunched-up field and claim his spot on the podium.

Barcia leaves Indy with a 22-point lead over second place Darryn Durham.

The night was just as helter-skelter for GEICO Honda’s other two riders, but neither Lites rider Justin Bogle nor Supercross rider Kevin Windham had luck on their side Saturday.

Bogle seemed poised to make the most of his second chance following the red flag. He restarted sixth, worked his way up to fourth within three laps before a spill dropped him to eighth. The rookie dug back in to finish sixth.

Justin Bogle (GEICO Honda CRF250R Supercross) says: “I switched things up and just tried to have fun this week. I felt good in practice today and I played it safe and got third in my heat race. The main was pandemonium, pretty much.

“I was feeling really good after the restart, but had a fall. I’m getting sick of these rookie mistakes. I know I’m learning, but I really want to get to the point where I have things figured out.”

Bogle is now in seventh place in the Lites standings, 11 points behind Jake Canada for sixth.

Indianapolis was more unkind to Windham than it was to Bogle. Windham suffered two hard spills during the night and ultimately finished 18th in the main.

The first crash happened when James Stewart went down right after the start of the first Supercross heat, collecting Windham and a handful of other racers in a pileup. The second came 10 laps into the main event when he was running fifth and battling for position with Mike Alessi. The two made contact and Windham wound up the worse for wear in that exchange.